Diisopropenyl benzene is a monomer that is useful in the synthesis of many useful copolymers. For example, it can be copolymerized with phenol, alkyl phenols, meta-dialkoxy benzenes, 1-mercapto-3-alkoxy benzenes, diarylkoxy benzenes, and 1,2,3-trialkoxy benzenes, to produce polymeric reaction products that are useful for various purposes including resins for injection molding.
Homopolymerizations of diisopropenyl benzene are also known. For example, the cationic homopolymerization of meta-diisopropenyl benzene produces polymers containing predominantly indane structure.
An anionic homopolymerization of meta-diisopropenyl benzene in a polar solvent at low temperatures was disclosed in Makromol. Chem., "Anionic Polymerization and Copolymerization of 1,3- and 1,4-Diisopropenylbenzene," Vol. 183, pages 2787-2797 (1982). However, this article indicates that the polymer formed undergoes crosslinking and that the reaction medium gels after long reaction times (high monomer conversion).